Help from the experts, please

[JJsqueeze]

First year 12s is a big adjustment period for a pitcher. They are new to travel ball (typically). They were usually the best pitcher in their rec league and now they are just one of many talented pitchers. Things like getting pulled seem like a big deal but if she sticks with it then within a year it will be so common she won't even blink. So tell her it is part of pitching and to move on.

As for ground balls, in baseball the fielders have a lot more room to field a hard grounder, in softball a hard grounder will result in a hit a lot more often than in baseball. I prefer to just use "hard hit ball" as a measure of how well a kid is pitching. If a lot of balls are being hit hard then the pitcher is not being effective.

And ditto the thick skin comments. As a pitcher you have to have thick skin and poor short term memory.

 

[NVfishing]

My DD has pitched a game where she K'd every batter. She's pitched a few other no hitters. Her best game pitching we lost 6-0 giving up one line drive and ground balls. Had the defense worked the score should have been 0-0. Depends only quality of competition and your defense.

How did the other pitchers on your team do in relief?

 

[Rubicon]

I've noticed sometimes, a team just has the pitcher's number that day. She's not necessarily not pitching well, they're just hitting off her. I swear sometimes it's just momentum. My DH always says hitting is contagious and it sure seems to be. You swap out pitchers and it throws off the momentum. Not only do they have to adjust to a new pitching style, they have to stand around and wait while she throws her warm-up pitches. I really think sometimes it's not even that the other pitcher is pitching better that day, it's just that you stomped on their momentum. My DD is probably the #1 on our team but juuuust barely. The girl who's pitched the 2nd most innings is right behind her. This weekend, she pitched probably twice as many innings as my DD. Sometimes they're on, sometimes they're off, and sometimes it's just a mix of her pitching that day with the opposing team's hitting.

Thank you so much. That is a VERY good point.

 

[Rubicon]

My DD has pitched a game where she K'd every batter. She's pitched a few other no hitters. Her best game pitching we lost 6-0 giving up one line drive and ground balls. Had the defense worked the score should have been 0-0. Depends only quality of competition and your defense.

How did the other pitchers on your team do in relief?

Got hit even harder, gave up many more runs... but eventually some of them happened to go right to fielders. The team they played is amazing... all very large, very skilled players. Some of the pitches my dd threw were perfectly on the low outside or low inside corners and they hit them anyway. As another poster said, just one of those days. Grow thicker skin, and work harder to get strike outs. Honestly, the only thing my dd (and me) took hard was the apparent admonishment from the coach. Didn't think it was necessary given the quality of the opponent, the errors by fielders, and that some of the hits were pretty weak hits off really good pitches. But anyway, control the things you can and try to ignore the rest. Get better. Work harder.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I will post a link to the video if anyone can spare the 12 minutes to maybe give this girl some peace of mind.

Let's see the video.

 

[NVfishing]

Sounds like you went against a team that's better than your team. Use it as a learning experience of how much your team needs to work. I've seen a lot of good players go to other teams over conversations regarding how a girl plays. Hurt feelings cause problems.

 

[Eric F]

First year 12s is a big adjustment period for a pitcher. They are new to travel ball (typically). They were usually the best pitcher in their rec league and now they are just one of many talented pitchers. Things like getting pulled seem like a big deal but if she sticks with it then within a year it will be so common she won't even blink. So tell her it is part of pitching and to move on.

As for ground balls, in baseball the fielders have a lot more room to field a hard grounder, in softball a hard grounder will result in a hit a lot more often than in baseball. I prefer to just use "hard hit ball" as a measure of how well a kid is pitching. If a lot of balls are being hit hard then the pitcher is not being effective.

And ditto the thick skin comments. As a pitcher you have to have thick skin and poor short term memory.

This (bolded above) is a good point. Some of the most "effective" pitchers I've seen rarely strike anyone out, but routinely give up balls in play that are easy outs (i.e. soft grounders to the pitcher). These are the kinds of pitchers who regularly get through an inning in 4-6 pitches. Quality of contact is an important consideration when evaluating a pitcher's performance.

 

[crystlemc]

I agree with Eric F. With softball being a team sport, I would much prefer to see a pitcher who creates a lot of ground balls and pop ups. That is the way my DD pitches. She is downright deadly with a decent defense behind her. She's not a barn burner; she spins the heck out of that ball. She has won games with something like 3 strikeouts.

Look at it this way, if a team has a pitcher who blows it by most people, and the defense never touches the ball, what happens when they face a team that hits the snot out of their pitcher? It goes south fast. Tell her, keep working that spin, creating those fieldable hits, and one day she will be a kick @ss pitcher who has a killer defense behind her.